1. Over thanksgiving weekend in 2017, my dental hygiene class participated in running booths by the Greater New York Dental Meeting in the Javits convention center. Children came from the New York Smiles Event and participated in each of our booths. Each booth had its own interactive way to encourage healthy oral habits! It really was a great way for each child to have a positive dental experience. Plus, we got free T-shirts for participating 🙂
2. During my last semester of the dental hygiene program in NYCCT, we were given the opportunity of providing oral health education as well as oral screenings to over 150 students in 1st – 8th grade at M.S. 113 Ronald Edmonds Learning Center. The oral health education consisted of nutrition counseling which included topics such as drinking energy drinks while playing sports and which foods to eat or avoid. For the oral screenings, we used a tongue depressor and a flashlight to quickly check for any carious lesions or abnormalities. Then, depending if there were restorations or plaque present, we can label the patient as either a low, medium or high risk for decay; and would recommend if dental care was needed. At the end of the oral screenings, we offered fluoride varnish to the children that had parental consent. I had the best time that day, I loved teaching about my studies and topics I’ve learned in college and had a great time getting the children involved and answering any questions they had. I would truly do this again!!
3. in 4th semester, I was also taking a public health class. As an assignment, we were given a service learning project that we split into groups for. We needed to plan and prepare a topic for a specific population, and then assess and evaluate how our teachings went. My group went to a senior home care at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center and discussed various issues that the older population may present with. For example, how to properly clean dentures and implants, as well as xerostomia caused by medications and how to treat it. We brought hands-on equipment as well as presented images and videos through using a powerpoint we created. After that, my group together wrote a report consisting of our experiences and findings. Researching dental issues and ideas for the geriatric population was a topic I had never done. I undoubtedly learned a lot from this assignment and will be able to use it for educating the geriatric population patients that I treat.
Public health written assignment
4. Another community service that I contributed in was in Family Headstart Child Care in Brooklyn. My class presented a cute short video, which spoke about the importance of eating healthy and brushing and flossing daily in order to take care of our teeth. Afterwards, we had a question and answer panel for the children to participate in and taught them the circular fones method of tooth brushing. The children enjoyed the video and loved learning how to brush their teeth correctly!
